The Official Photography Thread - Vol. 3

[yanky]

^ Looks good. I would have probably centered the path in the frame, unless you couldn't move anymore right. Dope shot, though!

After you mentioned it I just realized I could've done that. Will try that next time though.

 

[ksteezy]

Gearing up for wedding season, finally budged and got the 70-200 and a backup mkIII!

:x @ the amount of $$$$ dropped in minutes...

 

[fraij da 5 11]

A "backup" 5DIII?

 

[ksteezy]

Yeah man...lol

Had a mkII as my backup forever, but honestly is hard to even touch the mkii once you've gotten used to the grace of a mkiii, so I found myself swapping lenses on one body ether than utilizing my mkii which became a pain in the a**

 

[fraij da 5 11]

Donate that mark II my way.

 

[yanky]

Finished product. Will go back again so I can get the pathway in the center next time lol.


SF Panorama by Yanky4585, on Flickr

 

[ksteezy]

Donate that mark II my way.

traded the mkii + 135L for the markiii broski...lol

 

[fraij da 5 11]

yea yea...

Anyways I know you make your living doing this so its good to see someone who out there shooting weddings and such with the big boy tools.

Good luck this season.

 

[7th Chamber]

So what's your wedding kit looking like now ksteezy??

 

[ksteezy]

I'm still on the bottom of my climb when it comes to this wedding photography thing, so I can't say I make a Living doing it yet since I can't really afford to give up my steady job, but is getting there!...this year I booked 6 weddings, next year I hope to double that to 12 and get into the 3k range per wedding and the year after that double the 12 and have at least a 24 wedding season @ 4k each...at that point I'll go part time with my job...that's my goal at least...I still get plenty of maternity/children work in the offseason too....photography is a gold mine if you do things right and set a good rep for yourself.

 

[ksteezy]

So what's your wedding kit looking like now ksteezy??

At this moment

2 5dmkii
24L
24L TS
35L
50L
70-200L II
580ex II
600x RT

That's the core of my stuff...I have a bunch of extra things like my studio, accessories...etc

It's expensive to get things rolling but rewarding specially if its something you love doing.

 

[fraij da 5 11]

Heres the extent of my "wedding work"


Walking away by fraijda511, on Flickr


Diane by fraijda511, on Flickr


IMG_3568 by fraijda511, on Flickr


IMG_3552-4 by fraijda511, on Flickr


Music by fraijda511, on Flickr


Wedding Scene by fraijda511, on Flickr


Secret Garden by fraijda511, on Flickr

 

[ksteezy]

Not bad bro, not bad at all!

 

[7th Chamber]

Do you like primes better than using the 24-70? I believe you mentioned that you love the 24L. I'm looking at picking one up eventually.

 

[7th Chamber]

Some of my nephew:

 

[ksteezy]

Do you like primes better than using the 24-70? I believe you mentioned that you love the 24L. I'm looking at picking one up eventually.

24L is literally my favorite lense, I hear the 24-70L II is AMAZING finally on par withy he Nikon 24-70 but @ 2200$ :x

 

[Fong$tarr]

24L is literally my favorite lense, I hear the 24-70L II is AMAZING finally on par withy he Nikon 24-70 but @ 2200$ :x

I used version one this weekend and I honestly hated the lens. Granted I shot indoors but that thing was mad slow. Kind of hard to go from a 1.4 prime to a 2.8.

 

[lifestooshort80]

 

[Fong$tarr]

Finally got it in after some issues with USPS. No just need a battery. Got 2 packs of black and whites to mess with this weekend:

 

[roc07]

 

[khankussionz]

I'm still on the bottom of my climb when it comes to this wedding photography thing, so I can't say I make a Living doing it yet since I can't really afford to give up my steady job, but is getting there!...this year I booked 6 weddings, next year I hope to double that to 12 and get into the 3k range per wedding and the year after that double the 12 and have at least a 24 wedding season @ 4k each...at that point I'll go part time with my job...that's my goal at least...I still get plenty of maternity/children work in the offseason too....photography is a gold mine if you do things right and set a good rep for yourself.

I know I always bother you but can you elab on the do things right statement? I'm currently trying make photography a side hustle and I'm torn over alot of things business-wise and how I deal with clients.

 

[yallayalla]

info on that clean leather strap ksteezy

 

[ksteezy]

I know I always bother you but can you elab on the do things right statement? I'm currently trying make photography a side hustle and I'm torn over alot of things business-wise and how I deal with clients.

is not a problem bro, well there are some important things you must first consider in order to go in the right path....what i would say from personal experience is.

- know what to focus on from the jump and dedicate full force on that, when you first start to explore photography as a hustle you get caught up in trying to cover everything under the sun that means photography...you want to shoot models, kids, landscapes, street fashion, weddings, lifestyle, animals, etc etc...this only messes up your learning curve, there is no way you can be both a fashion photog and a wedding photog and those who claim are both, i guarantee you 8/10 suck at both....FOCUS from early on and stick to it, I started off as a kids/maternity photographer, for the first 2 years it was cool, i still enjoy it, but now that im trying to rebrand myself its become difficult, because my site is heavily linked to maternity/kids work and so are my references....if i could do it all over again i would have started off with weddings and id be far more ahead of the curve by now.

-know what gear to invest on.....no need to go ape **** at first, but if you think this is gonna be your hustle, take pride on it, bite the bullet and get a good camera and at least 2 good lenses to cover a good range, meaning dont go out and have a 24L and a 35L as your only lenses....doing this will eventually have you constantly selling gear to replace for more adequate stuff.....unless you have an infinite budget in which case, buy multiples of the same lense....i probably would...lol

-PAN OUT A CONTRACT!!!! its so important, sprcially for weddings, at the end of the day is the only thing that will protect you!...there are templates out there which you can use and just replace the names.

-Get liability insurance!....God forbid you swing your camera and break some kids nose by mistake at a party, I have mines covered for up to 1 mill

-be honest about your skill level

-think real hard about how to value your work, dont undersell yourself but dont take advantage of clients either, start off slow, and give yourself a year to bump up your prices, doing so each year.

-keep receipts!....youll be glad at the end of the year.

-start off a facebook business page, build a fan page, tag clients, be friendly.

-get a clean site where you can display your portfolio, preferably something you had to pay for and not some free blog host....not for your business....looks tacky.

these are just some of the things ive learned when it comes to approaching this as your side gig more than just a hobby

 

[ksteezy]

strap is called the moneymaker dslr strap

 

[khankussionz]

ksteezy, thanks for the advice man.

right now i have it in my mind that i want to be a portrait photographer. i dont want to do events because i dont have the consistency and ability to work fast enough to capture things how i want. i havent narrowed that down just yet.

i feel like im having the most difficulty with the financial part of it. i find myself doing free stuff for my friends for the experience but dont know when to say ok let me discount it for you or this is how much i charge for this. would you suggest i start with a package and tell them well right now i offer 1 hr for this much and i will throw in these prints but anything else you have to pay extra for?